LeBron James and the Tao of the Mega-Party

Hey, what haven't we written about for thirty seconds? I know! LeBron!

Today's tale is especially gooey though. It involves chap stick, champagne poured out, women in a bathtub, and the continuing self-demolition of LeBron James' public persona.

Arash Markazi is a columnist for ESPNLosAngeles.com . Last weekend, while King James and his merry men were partying in Vegas, Markazi was invited along for the festivities. This isn't anything new. Media members are occasionally privy to such events as part of a profile, but the events are almost always considered off-record. Markazi was apparently not under that impression, at least when he filed.

Markazi's story went up this morning at this link (link now = very dead). Within the hour, it was taken down again. Whoops. Something went up that shouldn't have. Unfortunately for the poor folks at ESPN.com's editorial department, in this day and age, someone managed to extract a copy of it. And it now lives on the Internet forever , among the weeds.

So what was it in that article that brought so much attention?

Well...

There's nothing in the article that is particularly shocking. Millionaire 25-year-old parties like a rock star, par-parties like a rock star. The problem is that it represents yet another blow to the hollowed out wreckage that is LeBron's public image. Furthermore, even though hardcore NBA fans, media, and personnel are fully aware that this is the kind of life James leads, it's still not the image he wants to project to the mothers of the ten year olds buying his shoes/lunchboxes/cereal/colognes. So what does the article say exactly? Let's go to the tape!

Want references to scantily clad women? You got it!

"The waiter bringing him his cup of green tea with a spoonful of honey and a dash of lemon juice makes the cut, as does the scantily clad brunette with a tattoo of a heart on her right shoulder. She wants to take a picture with him. "I can't right now," says James. "Maybe later, upstairs, I'll remember you're the one with the tattoo."

And then later:

Bottle after bottle of "Ace of Spades" champagne is delivered to the table by a waiter flying down from above the dance floor like some overgrown Peter Pan on a wire. One time he's dressed like a King, another time as Indiana Jones and another in a replica of James' No. 6 Miami Heat jersey. James, who can hardly see the flying figure through his tinted glasses, almost gets kicked in the head on the waiter's last trip down. He looks at the girls around him and says, "I wish they'd have one of these girls with no panties do that instead of the guy."

Well, hey, LeBron's not married. Not really any of our business. But it certainly doesn't paint the image that James wants to in light of the backlash he's faced since "The Decision."

The article features an inside look at how James behaves in close company. Not only James, in fact, but head of LRMR marketing Maverick Carter, who has emerged as the the dominant force behind James' decisions since hitting free agency. So a man of that kind of power, responsible for the business decisions of one of the most powerful people in sports today is probably reserved and in control, right?

Carter, LeBron's childhood friend and manager, begins dancing around James like Puff Daddy in a Notorious B.I.G video. A giant red crown-shaped cake is brought over to James while go-go dancers dressed in skimpy red and black outfits raise four lettered placards that spell out, "KING." Carter grabs a bottle of Grey Goose and pours a quarter of it on the floor and raises it up before passing it off.

Well, okay, that's a different approach.

Want to know exactly how ridiculous the entire spectacle is? Glen Davis thinks LeBron was acting a fool. That's right. The guy nicknamed "Big Baby" who was compared to Shrek thinks James is over-the-top:

Toward the end of the night, Boston Celtics forward Glen Davis walks past James' party and looks at the scene up and down several times like a painting in a museum, soaking in the images of the go-go dancers, the "King" sign and the costumed man delivering bottles of champagne.

Davis shakes his head and walks on.

James dances on the couch and sings along with the music blaring from speakers all around him.

Burn!

I'm not even going to touch the flying waiters in Indiana Jones outfits. (I thought they named the hooker Indiana. Or am I getting that quote wrong?)

Allright, but the story was only up for a few minutes and then taken down. Surely no one's had time to already start making fun of...

"The story should have never been published. The draft was inadvertently put on the server before going through the usual editorial process. We are in the midst of looking into the matter.”

Oh, so that's what happened. A story outlining the most powerful figure in the NBA whose public image has been tarnished outlining his rather opulent weekend in moderate detail just got slipped onto the server.

That guy that lost the iPhone 4 is going to have nothing on whatever poor guy screwed this up.

We shouldn't overreact to this, there should be nothing in this article that stuns us. James does nothing illegal, inbibes no illegal drugs, says nothing of real controversy. He's just your average, run-of-the-mill, mega-star with millions of dollars being treated like a god in the most opulent place on Earth. He's a lot like you and me, actually, if we routinely faked playing basketball in casinos and hung out in places with naked women in bathtubs with rose pedals as decoration (my wife prefers paper lamps). Really, part of LeBron is inside all of us. I'll let you figure out which organ that is, in particular.

LeBron James and the Tao of the Mega-Party

The guy is a stud. He has hit plenty game winners and look at his numbers against the Celts this year better then Kobe's, Kobe went 6-24 in game 7. He sucked but he had a better supporting cast. Last time i checked that 6-24 in game 7, won somebody (not LBJ), another ring. Now he has his great supporting cast, so there shouldn't be any excuses? Right?

Why did they pull the story? Hmmmm... I'm GUESSING the King and his men didn't like the way he and his entourage were portrayed, so the story vanished. Look, we all know this kind of behavior goes on in all big time sports, and I'm not saying the story should've been printed in the first place. But what bothers me is that ESPN pulled the story, then mumbled some lame bs about it not going thru the normal editorial process. Kind of reminds of the tape of Jordan Crawford dunking on LBJ that couldn't be shown.

Since: Sep 27, 2008

Posted on: July 30, 2010 10:53 am

LeBron James and the Tao of the Mega-Party

This is getting to be tiresome. Let me get this straight, this guy left his team after 7 years as a free agent and he is a bad guy? He goes to crazy clubs in Vegas and he is a bad guy? Have any of you been to Vegas clubs? Anyway Lebron is being treated like he is out of control athlete who gets in trouble with the law. Thats not the case, he is not Ron Artest (the new media sweet heart). Look after the Heat win some games and Lebron throws down some nasty dunks all will right itself.

Since: Apr 6, 2009

Posted on: July 29, 2010 9:29 pm

LeBron James and the Tao of the Mega-Party

Im not even gonna touch the subject of the party. What I will say, is that it is probably in James best interest not to put himself in these siutations. It seema alcohol and being in the public leads to most of the problems these young famous athletes encounter. The one thing I am sick of hearing is how much money James turned down. I can guarantee that if he keeps his ego in check and does not decimate his public image the move to Miami will actually create more money by way of endorsements than if he had stayed in Cleveland. Of course I am sure for this to pay off he will need to finally get that ring next or or the year after cash in and silence his critics as well.

Since: Jul 29, 2010

Posted on: July 29, 2010 6:59 pm

LeBron James and the Tao of the Mega-Party

This is really a non-story. A rich, young, unmarried, athlete goes to Vegas with a bunch of his boys and this is the story we get? That party sounded pretty lame if you ask me. Who drinks tea in Vegas? What guy isn't going to want a female waitress instead of some dude serving him drinks. Tell us about the hookers, strippers, and other riff-raff.

Since: Jul 28, 2010

Posted on: July 29, 2010 4:06 pm

LeBron James and the Tao of the Mega-Party

For a fact, during 3rd qtr of game 5, Mel Hunt is trying to set the defense and he said, "ok, Mo your out, Delonte you check Rondo". Only to have LeBron go, "no coach, we're doing ok, we don't need Delonte". so instead, they stick Boobie in the game. Now why? Why, because Delonte embarrassed LeBron by screwing his mommy. The result is the City of Cleveland lost their best chance at a Championship because...to boil it down...."Delonte screwed Lebron's mom". It wasn't an injury, it wasn't bad coaching, it was because a hood-rat like Delonte screwed a ghetto mom named Gloria and the baby traitor LeBoob couldn't handle it. LeBoob will take such a hit in endorsement money over the years it will pail in comparison to any monetary advantage he "thought" he would gain by moving on to Miami. You can take the kid out of the ghetto but you can't take the ghetto out of the kid (that goes for both Leboob and Delonte!).

Since: Jan 2, 2010

Posted on: July 29, 2010 3:01 pm

LeBron James and the Tao of the Mega-Party

who cares. Hes a kid having fun. Let him be. He hasn't been in the news for drugs, roids, drunk driving, murder, child porn, rape or anything else famous people get caught up in. Hes 25 with more cash than he can count, Let him be, Let him go to vegas and do what most of us would have done with our friends if we had millions to spare HAVE A HELL OF A TIME!! The only thing about this story that angers me is that it got reported, so people can get on here and bitch and complain about James blah blah.

Im a sixer fan but Know this: This Miami team is about to be around for a really long time deep into may and most likely 3 of the next 5 or 6 junes.

He knows this and is living it up. When the time comes he will be a top 5 nba player again this yr, and he wont even need to be.I would go all out too if I played for a franchise with that FO and I was that good for them for 7yrs and got nothing. He knows hes about to go where hes never been and he's happy. Vultures! your all so perfect lol.

Yuck Fou
Since: Jan 23, 2007

Posted on: July 29, 2010 1:56 pm

This comment has been removed.

Post Deleted by Administrator

Since: May 22, 2010

Posted on: July 29, 2010 1:00 pm

LeBron James and the Tao of the Mega-Party

LESHAM JAMES will never WIN a title jus like OBAMA will NOT WIN RE ELECTION BANK IT!!!

Since: Jul 29, 2010

Posted on: July 29, 2010 1:00 pm

LeBron James and the Tao of the Mega-Party

you are not looking at this correctly. the max deals in all these other cities basically come out to the same money for bosh and lebron, b/c there is no state or city income tax in Miami. so the fact that they said the money was not important is not really true. in fact even though they dont take the MAX DEAL from anywhere else they will actually make much more money in Miami, as all there income will now not be subject to City or State taxes, not jsut there NBA salary. This was a WIN/WIN for bosh and james, they get to play with a champion and they will make more money in there pockets. only lebron loses his Aura, because he could not win on his own.

Since: Aug 5, 2008

Posted on: July 29, 2010 12:29 pm

LeBron James and the Tao of the Mega-Party

Who Cares ?? i didn't read the article & don't care to.

You care, pal. Otherwise you wouldn't have wasted your time commenting. And you read the story. I know you did.

Write something useful instead of sitting at Lebron's feet all day & night trying to write something that matters !! How 'bout writing about some youth sports, or a meaningful high school sports story, or maybe some good college offseason stuff happening. Maybe write about some college athletes serving his country. Why keep regurgitating the same Lebron crap ??

C'mon, stop acting naive. First of all, no one gives a crap about youth sports except for the parents of kids playing youth sports. High school sports doesn't have a place on a national website, and most people could care less about offseason college stuff. College athletes serving our country...very noble and worthy of reading, but definitely not as sexy as LBJ slowly circling the drain.